Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Cross-Canada marathon tour was a journey decades in the making.
Over the past 20 years, Saint John runner Jeff Queen, 42, has moved across the country, had two kids, married, and switched jobs.
But one goal stayed constant: to complete a marathon in every province in Canada.
It seemed like a crazy dream when he was a 23-year-old novice runner, fresh out of university.
But on Oct. 15, 2023, Queen crossed the finish line at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a time of three hours and four minutes.
It was the 10th province in which he’s raced the 42.2-kilometre distance, and the marathon brought his lifetime kilometres to about 50,592 and counting.
“A great way to experience a new place is to lace up your sneakers and go for a run,” Queen said.
“I’ve loved running for the last 20 years. If all goes well, I plan to be running long past retirement, well into my old age.
“It’s something I hope to do for the rest of my life.”
From ‘under-trained and under-knowledgeable’ to champ
While Queen was always athletic, running wasn’t his thing growing up.
But when it decided to give it a try in his early twenties, he found running appealed to his mathematical way of seeing the world.
Marathon man completes 50,592 kilometres in 10 provinces over 20 years
Saint John’s Jeff Queen has completed his goal of running a marathon in every province in Canada.
“I’m a numbers guy,” he said. “I’ve always got numbers swirling around in my head. Running paces, mileage targets, what percentage finished the run am I? What would this pace translate to for a marathon?
But that didn’t add up to success in his first, ill-fated attempt at the marathon: the 2004 Valley Harvest Marathon in Kentville, N.S.
“I was severely under-trained and under-knowledgeable on the distance and the challenges,” he said. “I probably knocked off pretty much every training and racing mistake in the books.
“For the next week I was hobbling around. It was a painful one.”
His next attempt — the 2005 Okanagan International Marathon in Kelowna, B.C. — was “a little better,” he said. He was able to run the whole thing without stopping and came in at under four hours.
“I was slowly improving,” Queen said. “Learning from the mistakes.”
With two provinces down, Queen was off to the races.
With the support of his wife, Danielle, whom he married in 2007, he went on to complete Marathon by the Sea in Saint John in 2010, the 2014 Queen City Marathon in Regina, the 2016 Huffin Puffin Marathon in St. John’s, and the 2017 Manitoba Marathon in Winnipeg.
In 2015, the Queens welcomed their son, Mason, into the world — and Jeff’s consistency and training started paying off in a big way. The same year his son was born, he won the Run NB provincial championships in the marathon.
That big year “kind of injected some urgency in the mission to finish,” Queen said.
The couple had a daughter, Alyssa, in 2018.
Queen picked up the pace.
He finished with a personal best of 2:53:37 and third place finish overall at 2021 Prince Edward Island Marathon in Charlottetown, then completed the Marathon de Quebec in Quebec City in 2022, the Calgary Marathon in 2023 and, finally, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon this fall. There were plenty of other races in between that Queen didn’t count toward the challenge.
Each was memorable “for different reasons,” he said — whether the spectacular mountains and fall scenery in British Columbia, the rocky hills and ocean vistas of St John’s or the endless horizon of “pancake flat” Manitoba.
“My wife and I are both proud Canadians, and we really feel that this country has so much to offer and so many beautiful things,” he said. “To see that that was a big part of the reason for doing this.”
Danielle, he said, has “been a huge support through all of this. She’s been at every single one of these marathons — there at the start line, there at the finish line, anxiously waiting.”
What the family has dubbed the Queen Family Cross-Canada Marathon Challenge has meant “getting to go to places that we likely wouldn’t otherwise go,” Queen said.
“Every different part of this country has amazing things to see, and we really feel like we should take advantage of that.”
But after 20 years of marathon travel, it’s time to plan some different family vacations.
“For the next little while I think the travel-related budget goes to my wife, and we’ll do some things that she wants to do,” he said.
Running knowledge, life skills
Queen said he’s learned over the years that the ups and downs of distance running have a way of preparing a person for the ups and downs of life.
“You’re going to hit the bad patches. But if you just work through them and try your best, you do come through them,” he said.
“You start feeling better again at the other side of that bad patch.”
As in life, too — a little help from your friends doesn’t hurt.
Queen coaches a weekly free running group, the Rockwood Road Warriors, where anyone is welcome.
“I really enjoy watching the runners that I coach improve and hit their goals and accomplish amazing things.
It’s a huge inspiration, a huge motivation.”
More to explore
Queen may have ticked every province of the list — but Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut remain.
Running a marathon in the territories, as well, is “definitely eventually the plan,” Queen said.
Sure, there’s no officially sanctioned event in Nunavut. But that didn’t slow Queen down.
“I’ve been there for work a few times, so I just went out and ran 42.5 kilometres one day,” he said. “Considering there’s no actual marathon up there, I consider that one ticked off the box.”
While he’s racked up some impressive times, the real victory has been the journey, Queen said.
Seeing the country through running means “a little more time appreciating the scenery, and seeing things you just wouldn’t notice when you’re speeding through on a plane or in a car.
You see things in a different way.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia Wright is the host of Information Morning Saint John on CBC Radio 1. She previously worked as a digital reporter focused on stories from southwestern New Brunswick. She has a master’s degree in English from McGill University, and has been with the CBC since 2016. You can reach her at julia.wright@cbc.ca.
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Credit belongs to : www.cbc.ca
